A Farewell Ride On My Old Bike And A Visit To The Farm

Without knowing for sure, I suspected that last Sunday’s 36-mile bike ride might be my last ride on my old bike; and just in case it was, I took this picture in front of the Paeonian Springs sign along the W&OD Trail. It’s been a good bike and has gotten me back on the saddle sharing a sport with my husband once again.

We had a good thing going while running together, training for and running twenty marathons together. Prior to Bill’s marathoning days, he accompanied me on many training runs of up to sixteen miles, and once the marathon bug bit him, he was fully in until a knee injury sidelined him, most likely for good.

Being a cardio junkie of levels equal to my own, Bill needed to find another outlet for his pent up energy so he started biking again. Sad to no longer be able to share our weekend mornings together, Bill encouraged me to buy a bike so I could join him on rides. We purchased the above bike a year and a half ago after I insisted on getting a cheap one in case I didn’t enjoy riding.

Many rides later, I acquiesced and made the trip with Bill to his favorite bike shop in Arlington. I headed in with one bike in mind, but left the shop knowing that I needed a totally different type of bike – a gravel grinder. I said goodbye to my dream bike, a beautiful and graceful Bianchi, and said hello to a sporty Salsa!

The Salsa that seems to fit my needs the best is a 2019 model, the Journeyman. We ordered the Journeyman and I’ve since been anxiously awaiting its arrival. We got word on Wednesday that my new bike is in; however, with a trip to visit my mom for the weekend, we haven’t had a chance to pick it up. Hopefully, we can make it down to Arlington once we get home today if it isn’t raining – it’s raining in the Shenandoah Valley as I type…

After last Sunday’s ride, we went to a local bike shop and I found these Pearl Izumi bike shoes (affiliate link) on sale. I plan to learn to ride clipped in – wish me luck!

Monday morning’s super early client had scheduled for later in the day and my 7:30 was sick so I ran around 7 AM. Since it was light by the time I ran, I hit the trails in our neighborhood. This and one other bridge behind our house is scheduled to be torn down and rebuilt sometime this month so my access to the W&OD Trail will be less direct starting any day now. This could easily have been the last run across this bridge.

Because I’d moved some of my clients around due to the Labor Day holiday, I couldn’t get out to run on Wednesday morning and headed out around 2:30 PM when it was 93° with a feels like of 98°. Luckily, I was able to stay in the shade for most of my run by staying on our neighborhood trail; however, my pace certainly showed that I was running in unfavorable conditions.

On Thursday evening, we drove to the farm for the weekend to visit my mom for her birthday. Friday morning Bill and I headed out to run/ride in the 60° fog. The change in temperature made my run feel almost effortless for the first few miles, two of which were downhill. 😉

After those first two easy downhill miles, we had a little over a mile uphill before turning around to head home.

Here’s just a sample of the views along my run…

For mom’s birthday, I’d purchased this little chocolate mousse cake at the Wine’ing Butcher. It’s the perfect size for two, but since they only had one left, we cut it three ways and enjoyed every bite!

In case you skipped checking in on my blog this past week, here’s what you missed…

Unfortunately, last week I didn’t have time as hoped to write about our very own Trader Joe’s finally opening up in our community. It’s a great story about why it’s important, especially to me, and I hope to find time to tell you about it this coming week.

In addition to the runs I mentioned above, here’s a complete run-down of my workouts from this past week (completed mostly in our home gym)…

Questions:

If you ride, what type of bike do you have – road, mountain, gravel, hybrid?

What’s your favorite dessert?

Did you race this weekend?

And that’s a wrap… Have a great week!

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links which means if you click on the blue product link and then make a purchase, I will receive a commission for referring you. You will pay no more or less for the product; however, Amazon will show their gratitude for my referral by paying me.

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I’m linking up with Holly at HoHo Runs and Wendy from Taking The Long Way Home for their Weekly Wrap. Be sure to check out not only the hosts’ posts, but the other great bloggers joining in on the fun!

Happy Running!
~ Deb

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I love my bike as well but did not ride as much this summer. Seemed like we had so much rain! I hope I can bike a little into October this year as the leaves start to change it’s always so pretty out there.I’m on a specialized dolce I love it. You will have no probs clipping in!

I’ve never heard of the Salsa, so I’m looking forward to your report of how you like it. I have a road bike and yes, I clip in. It’s a little unnerving at first, but you’ll love the power you get from being attached to the pedals. I’m looking forward to riding next weekend–once my race is done, I plan on riding more before it gets cold.

My husband has two Salsas (and a Trek for the road). One of his Salsa’s is similar to the one I’m getting and the other one has much larger tires and is great for some serious trail riding. Salsa is headquartered in Minnesota.

The path that you and your hubby followed sounds very similar to ours. My Bill used to ride with me while I did long runs for marathon training, then he began marathoning too. We did many marathons and other races together, until he decided (mostly due to injuries) he didn’t want to run the long races anymore. He did come back for the Berlin Marathon last fall, but I don’t know if I can get him to do another long race. We are looking forward to bike riding on local rail trails when he retires on December.

That dessert looks amazing! Don’t laugh, but I actually have what’s called a comfort bike and I love it! My husband had a Cannondale and liked my bike so much that he traded it in on a comfort bike too. Just 2 weeks ago he traded his comfort bike in on another bike that had disc breaks but then last week he went and bought his old comfort bike back! How crazy is that? He has 2 bikes now. We’ll see how much he rides!

I cycle at the gym, occasionally, on a stationary bike. I’m too scared to ride a real bike, lol. Cars. Streets. No. And clipped in? Oh he** no, that’s an accident waiting to happen for me! Knowing me, I’d forget and try to get off and fall. Yep. I can be a klutz. A forgetful klutz.

My favorite dessert? Oh man. My aunt’s blueberry pie definitely comes to mind! But I wouldn’t have been sad if I’d shared some of that dessert with you guys. YUM!

Hello! I’m new here and an avid reader of Wendy’s blog so I decided to do the link up. I’m a triathlete so I know all too well the excitement of getting a new bike! Hope you can pick yours up soon. I can also relate to the new Trader Joe’s excitement as we JUST finally got one in our town too – YAY!!!

Well, yes, that is true, but GoPros take such great quality photos that I tend to give mine all the credit. 😉 Did you happen to see my post, A Summary Of Tips For Capturing Your Best Ever Running Photos? It’s a compilation of my five part series which included a variety of tips on capturing great running pictures.

I can’t wait to hear about your new ride! I clipped in for a while, but I kept having a leg pain that wouldn’t go away. I suspected it was from the wrenching involved in unclipping…I was right. I need a different (aka easier) pedal/clip system. I admit it didn’t make much difference in my performance but it looks so much cooler when you’re clipped in. 😉 I’m glad you were able to visit your Mom for her birthday! It looks so pretty there. Thanks for linking.

I picked up my new bike on Wednesday and I LOVE it! Clipping in was easy to learn and I did great until about two seconds after I asked my husband how long he thought it would be until I had my first accident due to forgetting to unclip. I rode into our garage thinking I’d unclip as I stopped, but couldn’t get either shoe to unclip. I sort of fell over sideways on the concrete floor in what seemed like slow motion. I landed on Bill’s bike which was leaning against the wall and I got scraps and bruises on my elbow and knee. I also learned a valuable lesson: unclip as I’m riding down the street in case I can’t unclip and need a little more time to do it.

Southwestern Virginia where my mom lives really is a beautiful place. I was happy to be able to spend her birthday weekend with her. 😀

I’m Debbie (or Deb), a lover of family, life, and all things running; and I aspire to share my love of fitness through Deb Runs. As a personal trainer and running coach, I enjoy helping others adopt a healthy lifestyle to improve the quality of their lives.

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